Sights and Sounds

Muscle Shoals is great music documentary about the "special sound" that came out of the studio recordings of this small town in Alabama that includes names like Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Allman Brothers (among others). Interviews with the studio musicians, the engineers, and some of the more famous people involved on the bands listed above help tell the story of this great place to make music. I was particularly interested in the story of the session musicians from that town, named "The Swampers" that played behind the varied kinds of musicians that came to record over the years. Read more about Muscle Shoals

“Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.”

Elwood P. Dowd.

Jimmy Stewart once said that his role as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey was one of his favorites. It is perhaps his most famous movie role beside that of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Harvey is a laid back and enjoyable film about a man who has left the work-a-day world and apparently entered into a life of unreality.Read more about Harvey

I chose to highlight this film, released (and slightly forgotten) last year, because the holds queue has recently run its course. The plot concerns a small-town Texas man who escapes from prison to reunite with his wife and their child he has never seen. If you're looking for a crime picture that is equal parts emotional relationship drama and technical detail period piece (mid 20th century), check this out. The box advertises it as a "modern western", which I suppose it is, in the way a film like Down in the Valley or Lonely Are The Brave (the last "good Western", according to Sam Shepard's True West) is. It has a few action scenes, but this film is more Badlands than Bonnie & Clyde. Read more about Ain't Them Bodies Saints

If you are looking for a good, modern crime thriller, and are not averse to subtitles, this new Johnnie To movie is definitely worth checking out. A contemporary of filmmakers like John Woo and Tsui Hark, Johnnie To has been known for making good (crime) pictures in China for awhile now, but this new one is a great blend of action and plot. Reviews I have read compare it to Infernal Affairs (which Martin Scorsese's The Departed was based on), though the plot here is not THAT convoluted. Read more about Drug War

In the 1960’s one of the top rated TV shows of the time was a comedy about the unusual subject of a prisoner of war camp in Nazi Germany. The show was the story was about a group of prisoners in Stalag 13 whose mission was to conduct secret operations behind enemy lines. It was known as Hogan’s Heroes. The film Auto Focus is not about this television show but about its star who found himself in the public’s eye and being held up to public as the example of the ideal family man. His life and his actions were anything but ideal. Read more about Auto Focus

“Here's how it is: The Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths. Some rich and flush with the new technologies, some not so much. The Central Planets, thems formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule; a few idiots tried to fight it, among them myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. She's a transport ship; Firefly class. Got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher for some reason, and a bona fide companion. There's a doctor, too, took his genius sister outta some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You understand. You got a job, we can do it, don't much care what it is.” – Opening Credits

The television series Firefly is a show that many say was never really given a chance. I would have to agree. Produced by Joss Whedon for the Fox Network, the show was originally planned to have a seven year story ark. It was canceled after airing only 11out of 14 filmed episodes. It suffered from a variety of issues. Fox aired the episodes out of order and swapped the times that it aired in an ill-advised attempt to raise ratings. Those who found the show had trouble finding it again. Even with these issues, Firefly gathered such a strong fan following that with the release of the DVDs its popularity has continued to build over time. Read more about Firefly